Happy Birthday, Lewis Milestone! Born today in 1895 as Leib Milstein, this Moldovan-born American screenwriter, producer and motion picture director was one of the most significant, prolific, and influential directors of our time.
He was also especially known for his realistic dramas, many of which were literary adaptations.
Milestone came to America as a tough, resourceful Russian-speaking teenager and learned about film by editing footage from the front as a member of the Signal Corps of the U.S. Army during World War I. In 1919 he became a naturalized citizen of the United States.
After the war, Milestone went to Hollywood, where he first worked as a film editor and later as an assistant director.
Later, American business magnate, investor, record-setting pilot, engineer, film director, and philanthropist Howard Hughes promoted Milestone to director and one of his early efforts.
This was the 1927 American silent black and white comedy film 'Two Arabian Knights'. Two years later, the film won Milestone an Oscar at the 1st Academy Awards ceremony on May 16, 1929.
The following year, Milestone directed the film of which he is best known. This was the epic 1930 American pre-Code black and white war/action film 'All Quiet on the Western Front'.
The film follows a group of German schoolboys, given an impassioned speech into enlisting at the beginning of World War I by their jingoistic teacher Professor Kantorek (Arnold Lucy).
The story is told entirely through the experiences of the young German recruits and highlights the tragedy of war through the eyes of individuals.
The film had been produced by American business and heir Carl Laemmle Jr. His father, Carl Laemmle Sr. had founded Universal Studios.
Later that same year, 'All Quiet on the Western Front' won Best Picture. Milestone also won his second Oscar for Best Directing. This occurred at the 3rd Academy Awards in early November 1930.
The film is based off of 20th-century German novelist Erich Maria Remarque's titular landmark 1929 Roman à clef war story novel. The book's original title was Im Westen nichts Neues (lit. 'Nothing New in the West). Remarque was also a veteran of World War I.
One year later, the next feature by Milestone was the 1931 American pre-Code black and white comedy film 'The Front Page'.
It was this film that brought the eponymous 1928 stage play by American screenwriter, director, producer, playwright, journalist, and novelist Ben Hecht and American playwright and screenwriter Charles MacArthur to the screen.
Milestone was one of the first directors to use the rotoambulator. This is a combination of a crane and a dolly with three wheels.
The rotoambulator was effectively used in the scene of 'The Front Page' where editor Walter Bums (Adolphe Menjou) descends to the shipping area of his plant. The rotoambulator was used to capture the entire scene in a way that had never been done before.
Later that same year, the film later earned Milestone another Oscar nomination. This occurred at the 4th Academy Awards in mid-November 1931.
Milestone's work during the 1930s and 1940s was always easily identifiable by its lighting and imaginative use of fluid camera.
Nine years later, Milestone directed the original 1939 American black and white drama film 'Of Mice and Men'. The film had been based off of John Steinbeck's titular 1937 tragedy fiction novella.
The following year, Milestone was later nominated for an Oscar for Outstanding Production. This occurred at the 12th Academy Awards in late February 1940.
Six years later, Milestone directed the 1948 American black and white noir/drama film 'The Strange Loves of Martha Ivers'. It starred Barbara Stanwyck and Kirk Douglas. This was his first feature role.
In the years of World War II, Milestone directed three films of which defended the world's fighting both Nazi Germany and Imperial Japan.
After the war, Milestone was blacklisted under the suspicion that he was a communist sympathizer. Deciding to wait for anti-communist hostility to cool, he and his wife left for Europe: here he made a few films.
Although suspected of having communist leanings, Milestone was never called to testify before the HUAC, and he was never officially blacklisted.
In the United States, he made other films before leaving for Europe, but his postwar films did not have the same power as the early works.
For much of the 1950s, Milestone struggled to find film assignments. He worked extensively in television from that decade onwards.
On February 8, 1960, Milestone received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. It is located at 7021 Hollywood Blvd.
Milestone later returned to the United States to make two more films. The first was the 1960 American Technicolor crime/musical heist film 'Ocean's 11' starring the Rat Pack with Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, Sammy Davis Jr., Peter Lawford and Joey Bishop.
The second was the epic three-hour 1962 American Technicolor historical drama film 'Mutiny on the Bounty', starring Marlon Brando.
The original 'Ocean's 11' worked, but 'Mutiny on the Bounty' eventually became a box office bomb. On a budget of $19 million, 'Mutiny on the Bounty' only grossed $13.6 million at the box office.
With no other work to do, Milestone turned to television, which he disliked. He then left directing as his health began failing.
Milestone passed from natural causes in Los Angeles, California on September 25, 1980. He was 84. This was just five days short of his 85th birthday.
Milestone's final request before he passed was for Universal Studios to restore 'All Quiet on the Western Front' to its original length.
That request would eventually be granted nearly two decades later by Universal and other film preservation companies. This restored version is what is widely seen today on television and home video.
During the course of his film career, which spanned more than forty years, Milestone developed intense personal and professional relationships with such major Hollywood figures as Howard Hughes, Kirk Douglas, Marlene Dietrich, and Marlon Brando.
In 1990, 'All Quiet on the Western Front' was selected and preserved by the United States Library of Congress' National Film Registry as being deemed "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant."
In the early 2000s, Steven Soderbergh ('Sex, Lies, and Videotape', 'Traffic') directed a remake of Milestone's 'Ocean's Eleven'
This was the titular 2001 American comedy/heist film, starring George Clooney, Brad Pitt, Matt Damon, Julia Roberts and Andy Garcia, Bernie Mac, Carl Reiner, Elliott Gould and Casey Affleck.
Addressed are Milestone's successes―he garnered twenty-eight Academy Award nominations―as well as his challenges.
Using newly available archival material, this work also examines Milestone's experience during the Hollywood Blacklist period, when he was one of the first prominent Hollywood figures to fall under suspicion for his alleged Communist sympathies.
A serious artist who believed in film's power not only to entertain, but also to convey messages of social importance, Milestone was known as a man of principle in an industry not always known for an abundance of virtue.
Milestone had been active from 1918–1964.
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